SpaceX Gains $100 Billion Ahead of Starship Launch

SPCX closed September 17, 2026 at $154.79, up 2.59% from the prior close of $150.88, after trading between $152.63 and $156.8656 during the session.

Executive Summary

SPCX extended Wednesday's advance on Thursday, closing at $154.79 and marking a second straight up day heading into next week's scheduled Starship flight on September 22, which multiple headlines flagged as the near-term catalyst investors are watching. Coverage also pointed to a reported one-day market-cap gain that Benzinga put at roughly $100 billion, taking the company's valuation to about $2 trillion by that account, alongside continued retail-driven volatility that one Benzinga piece described as swings of roughly 4.5% a day tied to a small float.

Not all of the day's coverage was bullish. A Motley Fool piece flagged risk to SpaceX's AI infrastructure revenue after Anthropic founder Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, and cited the stock's reported price-to-sales ratio of 87.3 alongside a disclosed $45 billion computing-capacity agreement with Anthropic running through 2029 as a dependency worth watching. Against that mixed backdrop, the tape itself showed a stock recovering from Tuesday's dip, closing above its short-term moving averages but still giving back roughly half of an intraday advance that pushed as high as $156.8656.

News

1. SpaceX Has a Sept. 22 Catalyst. Here's What Investors Are Really Watching

SpaceX's Sept. 22 Starship flight could show whether its biggest rocket is becoming the engine behind Starlink's next growth phase. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 2:25 PM ET)

2. Mark Cuban Asked What's Scarier Than AI. One Reply: 'You Can Unplug AI. You Can't Unplug Humans'

“What is more concerning to you, AI being destructive to Humans, or Humans responding to AI being destructive to Humans?” Cuban asks. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 2:08 PM ET)

3. SpaceX Adds $100B in One Day—That’s More Than Two Rocket Labs

SpaceX gains $100 billion to reach a $2 trillion market cap on Starship launch hopes, dwarfing Rocket Lab amid volatility and lockup risks. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 12:44 PM ET)

4. SpaceX Stock for Free? Board Member is Giving Away Shares to Early Backers

One of the biggest backers of SpaceX stock is giving away shares to early investors. Here's why. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 11:54 AM ET)

5. SpaceX Stock Extends Rally: What's Going On Today?

Space Exploration Technologies shares are trading higher Thursday, extending Wednesday's rally ahead of next week's Starship launch. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 10:58 AM ET)

6. SpaceX Is Worth $2 Trillion. Why Does Its Stock Swing Like a Small-Cap?

SpaceX is worth about $2 trillion, but its shares swing roughly 4.5% a day as a small float and heavy retail trading drive volatility. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 10:00 AM ET)

7. Intel Stock Could Nearly Double to $200 in 2 Years, Analyst Says — Potential Apple, Tesla, and AI Chip Deals Could Fuel the Rally

Intel stock could double to $200 within two years as potential Apple and Tesla foundry deals and AI demand drive earnings growth. (Benzinga, Sep 17, 8:25 AM ET)

8. SpaceX Investors Just Got Some Bad News From Anthropic Founder Dario Amodei

Anthropic founder Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, citing cybersecurity concerns. This threatens SpaceX's lucrative AI infrastructure business, which relies on a $45 billion computing capacity deal with Anthropic through 2029. SpaceX's heavily overvalued stock (P/S ratio of 87.3) is heavily dependent on AI revenue growth, leaving it vulnerable if major customers reduce spending. (The Motley Fool, Sep 17, 8:17 AM ET)

Price Action

Metric	Value
Open	$153.80
High	$156.8656
Low	$152.63
Close	$154.79
Change vs prior close	+$3.91 (+2.59%)
Volume	75,210,829
Intraday range	$152.63 – $156.8656
Close vs IPO	-3.83% vs IPO-day close ($160.95); +14.66% vs IPO offer price ($135.00)

SPCX opened at $153.80, essentially in line with the prior close of $150.88 after a modest gap up, then pushed to a session high of $156.8656 before fading into the close at $154.79. Volume came in at 75,210,829 shares, below the average-volume-to-date figure of 77,521,401 and well under the prior session's 108,700,624 shares; the volume-vs-average indicator in the data feed reads 0.69. The close remains below both the first-day IPO close of $160.95 and the June 16 all-time closing high of $201.80 visible in the closing-price history, but it is now more than 14% above the original $135.00 IPO offer price.

The session added 2.59% on lighter volume than the prior day, extending a two-day bounce off Tuesday's close but leaving the stock still short of its intraday high.

Technicals

SPCX has traded publicly for roughly three months (IPO June 12, 2026), so the longest-horizon indicator, SMA-200, is not yet computable from the available history and is marked unavailable in the data feed. RSI-14, SMA-5/10/20/50, and EMA-5 are computed on the available bars, but given the short trading history these readings should be treated as early-stage signals rather than the well-seasoned levels a longer-listed stock would offer.

Trend

The daily close history shows SPCX peaking at $201.80 on June 16, then grinding lower through July into an early-August low near $108.27 (August 5), before recovering unevenly to the current $154.79. That recovery has produced a series of higher lows since early August, and the stock is now trading above its SMA-5 ($149.70), EMA-5 ($150.46), SMA-10 ($149.54), SMA-20 ($144.40), and SMA-50 ($134.62), a cluster that sits below the current price and points to a short-term uptrend still intact after the mid-September pullback to $143.49 on September 15.

Candle read

Thursday's candle had a small body of 0.99 against a much larger upper wick of 2.08 and a smaller lower wick of 1.17, on a total range of 4.24. The close-location value of 0.51 means the close landed almost exactly at the midpoint of the day's range. Read together, buyers pushed the stock to a fresh intraday high near $156.87, sellers faded roughly half of that advance, and the session still closed with a net gain of 2.59% while giving back a meaningful portion of the day's best levels.

Support levels

• $152.63 — the session low
• $150.88 — the prior close
• $149.54–$150.46 — the SMA-10/EMA-5/SMA-5 cluster
• $144.40 — SMA-20
• $134.62 — SMA-50
• $150.00 — nearest round number below current price

Resistance levels

• $156.8656 — the session high
• $160.95 — the IPO-day close
• $155.00 / $160.00 — nearest round numbers above current price
• $154.60 — the June 22 close, a prior level in the closing-price history near the current price

Momentum interpretation

RSI-14 at 60.07 sits in positive but not overbought territory, consistent with the short-term average structure noted above.

Bull scenario: SPCX holds above the $152.63 session low and the $150.88 prior close, then clears the $156.8656 high, opening a path back toward the $160.95 IPO-day close.

Bear scenario: SPCX loses the $152.63 low and the $150.88 prior close, pulling back toward the $149.54–$150.46 short-term average cluster and, if that fails, the $144.40 SMA-20.

Neutral scenario: SPCX consolidates between roughly $150.88 and $156.87 ahead of the September 22 Starship flight referenced in Thursday's news coverage, with the moving-average cluster continuing to provide underlying support.

Trading Takeaway

SPCX closed up 2.59% on volume below its average-to-date, extending a bounce off the September 15 low while still trading beneath both its IPO-day close and its all-time closing high from June. The session's candle shape, a small body under a long upper wick, shows the rally was partially rejected intraday even as the day closed higher, and the stock remains above its short-term moving averages heading into next week. For the next session, the levels to watch are resistance at $156.8656 (Thursday's high) and support at $152.63 (Thursday's low) and $150.88 (Wednesday's close), with the September 22 Starship flight cited in Thursday's news as the next scheduled catalyst.

Sources

1. SpaceX Has a Sept. 22 Catalyst. Here's What Investors Are Really Watching — Benzinga
2. Mark Cuban Asked What's Scarier Than AI. One Reply: 'You Can Unplug AI. You Can't Unplug Humans' — Benzinga
3. SpaceX Adds $100B in One Day—That's More Than Two Rocket Labs — Benzinga
4. SpaceX Stock for Free? Board Member is Giving Away Shares to Early Backers — Benzinga
5. SpaceX Stock Extends Rally: What's Going On Today? — Benzinga
6. SpaceX Is Worth $2 Trillion. Why Does Its Stock Swing Like a Small-Cap? — Benzinga
7. Intel Stock Could Nearly Double to $200 in 2 Years, Analyst Says — Potential Apple, Tesla, and AI Chip Deals Could Fuel the Rally — Benzinga
8. SpaceX Investors Just Got Some Bad News From Anthropic Founder Dario Amodei — The Motley Fool
9. Elon Musk's Tesla And SpaceX Sue Nanotech Firm TERA-Print Over 'Terafab' Name For Planned $16.8 Billion Texas AI Chip Factory — Benzinga
10. Elon Musk Warns Rocket Startups: Don't Try to Copy SpaceX's Raptor 3 — 'Very Complex Geometry' Inside — Benzinga
11. Jared Isaacman Says NASA Needs Space Force Security, Calls for 'Starfleet Academy' As Trump's Space Initiative Moves Full Speed Ahead — Benzinga
12. Trump's White House Is Split on AI — David Sacks, Nvidia's Jensen Huang Push Light Touch as Officials Fear Cyberattacks: Report — Benzinga
13. Elon Musk Says SPCX's Starship Could Deliver Up to 10 Million Tons to Orbit Every Year — Benzinga
14. Elizabeth Warren Wants Lawmakers to Decide Future of AI, Gets Told by Anthony Pompliano: Time to 'Press Pause' on Politicians Interfering in the Free Market — Benzinga
15. Alpaca Markets (SIP) — market data

Disclaimer

This report is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Market data and news are sourced as cited above and may be delayed or incomplete. Verify all figures independently before making any financial decision.